The Karlstal is the valley of the Moosalb stream located near

Trippstadt Trippstadt is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country i ...

in the Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is registered as a nature reserve - number 335 055 - under the name of ''Karlstalschlucht'' ("Karlstal Gorge").

Location

The Karlstal lies about 10 kilometres south of the German city of

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

near the climatic spa of Trippstadt. There is a

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

running through the Karlstal Gorge, a ravine which is roughly 3 kilometres long.

History

Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who laid out the first

landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

in Germany, was involved in the conversion and extension of the gardens of

Trippstadt House Trippstadt House (german: Trippstadter Schloss) is an 18th-century, baroque ''schloss'' or manor house in the eponymous village in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Building The building is made of red sandstone and comprises a single w ...

in the 1780s. Whilst there, he got to know the nearby Karlstal and described it thus: Subsequently, Sckell undertook alterations over the central part of the gorge, a good kilometre long, and dovetailed a trail with little wooden bridges and a wooden pavilion into the valley, so that its near-natural impression was even more heightened. An iron table at the entrance to the valley refers to a royal visit: Ex-king Ludwig I of Bavaria, Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse-Darmstadt and Archduchess

Hildegard Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hildeg ...

of Austria, together with their retinue, visited the valley on 9 August 1862.

Landscape

The rocky gorge, through which the Moosalb flows and which is largely natural, contains a large amount of rock debris from the red

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

of the region, as well as numerous little waterfalls and old deciduous and conifer stands. As a result, it is one of those destinations in the Palatine Forest that is promoted by those responsible for tourism. On the left-hand side of the Karlstal valley, is a formerly occupied rock cave which is only accessible on an almost unmetalled path. Above it, on level ground is the

Amseldell The Amseldell is a former park-like leisure area about two kilometres west of the German town of Trippstadt in the Palatine Forest in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Geographic location and environment The Amseldell lies in field parcel (''Ge ...

, an old park-like area from the 19th century that has since been left to decay, but which originally had a maze, a firing range and a hut.Wolfgang Dammbrück (s. Literatur) Other sights in the surrounding area are described in the article on the Moosalb.

Transport

At its western end along the Biebermühl Railway, there was once a halt called ''Karlsthal'', which through lack of profitability was closed. Since its closure the nearest station has been

Schopp Schopp is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Schopp station lies on the Biebermühl Railway. History The place was first mentioned in documents in 1345. In the Middle Ages Schopp, tog ...

References

Literature

External links

Palatine Forest Tourism, Climatic spa of Trippstadt in the Palatine Forest: ''Das Karlstal''
Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Palatinate Forest Valleys of Rhineland-Palatinate